It could well be the most important travel app at the moment. The Government of India’s coronavirus-tracking app explained

Roughly translated from Hindi, Aarogya Setu means “a bridge to being healthy”. It’s also the name of the contact-tracing app the Government of India released on 2 April in lieu of their previous COVID-19 app, Corona Kavach (Corona Shield). Aarogya Setu was created under the National Informatics Centre in partnership with private agencies to connect residents to essential health services and monitor the spread of the coronavirus. It has clocked over 10 million downloads till date (iOS/Android).

How does the Aarogya Setu mobile app work?

COVID-19 is believed to spread through direct contact with infected people and through infected large respiratory droplets that may remain in the air or on surfaces for hours or days, especially when an infected person coughs or sneezes without covering their nose and mouth.

Since contact is key, Aarogya Setu aims to determine whether you are at risk of exposure by assessing your location and scanning its database of known cases in India. You will be informed if someone you have come in close proximity with tests COVID-19 positive (or rather, if your devices that have the app installed have come in close contact). The app alerts are accompanied by instructions on how to self-isolate and what to do in case you develop symptoms of the disease.

How does the Aarogya Setu app detect coronavirus patients?

Once you download the Aarogya Setu app, you register with your phone number, add other details like your age and gender, and go through a self-assessment of your health. The chatbot keeps you informed of updates from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and related helplines. To enable tracking, you need to keep your GPS location sharing and Bluetooth always on. GPS tracks your real-time location, while a Bluetooth exchange occurs between proximal devices that have installed Aarogya Setu.

A simple Q&A based diagnostics test on the Aarogya Setu app

The app uses your location and the government database to determine whether you are within six feet of an infected person, or whether you are in an area designated as a coronavirus hotspot. It will alert you about physical proximity, estimate your risk of infection based on your interactions, provide contextual advice, and share information with authorities about movement of suspect cases. If you test positive for COVID-19 or are at risk because you’ve been in close contact with an infected person, your data and the details of everyone you’ve come into contact with over the past 30 days are sent to the cloud to be accessed by the government.

Any other features?

Well, Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested last week that the app could effectively act as an e-pass once the lockdown eases. The implication is that you may be allowed to travel only if you have the app. It’s an optional download currently.

How will the data be used?

The app will ask for location sharing permissions

Your location history is meant to be deleted from the app and cloud after a 30-day cycle. The privacy policy states that personal information is stored locally on the device, and the government will access it via the cloud in “anonymised, aggregated datasets” to generate reports and statistical visualisations, or if the user tests positive or comes into contact with a known case of infection. The government may share the information with others for necessary medical and administrative interventions.